Monte Cristi & La Isabella - Culture

You can get to Monte Cristi if you're driving from Santiago and you take Autopista Duarte (#1) in the south-north direction up to the point where the highway ends. There, at the town's central park, you will find the Public Clock, a XIX Century relic original from France; its clapper still makes the bell toll every quarter of the hour, to welcome visitors.

Monte Cristi's has an old town area, a yacht club, historic sites near La Isabella and La Citadelle, south of Cap Haitian, with its spectacular Fort Liberté. Also noted are the environmental sites of Enriquillo Lake and Etang Saumatre.

If you visit La Isabella, hire a taxi for spectacular vistas and take an hour ride along some washboard roads to the top of Mt. Isabel de Torres to see the huge cross that looms over the city. You may have to walk the last half-mile because of road repairs. You can also reach the top on horseback or by safari jeep. It’s well worth the trip on a clear day: You can see for miles up and down the coast, and the mountains of the interior ranges seem to go on forever. There’s also a small botanical garden by the cross. (Take a sweater - it can be cooler at the top).

The Máximo Gómez and José Martí Museum is sited at the house where the programmatic document for the Cuba's Independence, known as the Manifiesto de Monte Cristi, was signed.

Monte Cristi National Park is in the extreme northwest corner of the country, partially bordering Haiti. Montecristi features coastal lagoons, mangrove coves and vast marine reserves. The park is mostly a subtropical dry forest, with an average annual temperature of 83 degrees. Ten species of reptiles inhabit the park, including the American crocodile. About 160 species of birds and 107 types of molluscs, including clams, snails and squids, are also abundant. Visit also the Delta of the Yaque del Norte River, the largest in the country.

Beaches are Costa Verde Beach, La Granja Beach, Popa Beach, Morro's Beach with abrupt, strong waves and deep waters. Los Cayos Siete Hermanos, seven virgin keys around a 30km coral reef area, with a fabulous animal population that scuba divers and snorkelling aficionados will like very much. For those who like bird watching, the keys offer an impressive spectacle every year during May, when the bubíes come from Florida.

At the occidental extreme of the northern coast, there is the splendid Manzanillo Bay, beautiful corner of the world containing Nature's best treasures, and created for relax and contemplation.

 With crystal-clear waters moving over a mantle of incredibly white sand, Manzanillo waits for visionary investment and project development that provide quietude, recreation and enjoyment for tourists, without hurting the physical and spiritual health of its jovial inhabitants, who supply for their lack of material facilities, their lovely smile.

In any small restaurant or economic eatery in town or nearby rural areas, you can eat the flavourful regional dish Chivo Liniero, which has an exquisite peculiar taste because the goat eats wild oregano and its meat gets spiced up before sacrificing the animal.

Monte Cristi has barely 100 hotel rooms for tourists. It indicates that the principal attractions of the frontier are aspects that are not usually appreciated by the tourists that visit the D. R. - nature, peacefulness, cultural heritage, deep-sea fishing, scuba diving and sailing.